Top Drug Enforcement Officials Visit Springfield On Prescription Drug Take Back Day

SPRINGFIELD, VA — The head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the nation’s drug czar joined Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis in Springfield on Saturday to promote National Prescription Drug Take Back Day and the importance of protecting family members and friends from unwanted and expired drugs in medicine cabinets.

Dozens of residents drove up to a special site set up at the Fairfax County Police Department's West Springfield District Station to drop off unwanted prescription drugs. DEA and police officials then placed the unwanted medicines into plastic bags.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and National Drug Control Policy Acting Director Regina LaBelle attended Saturday’s event as a way to bring attention to how unwanted prescription drugs can get into the wrong hands or lead to overdoses.

"What's really amazing is seeing how much is coming in," Milgram told Patch. "It's easy, it's free, it's anonymous. Watching that happen and seeing it be really smooth is a terrific thing."

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at the West Springfield District Station and at seven other locations across Fairfax County. The twice-a-year event is sponsored by the DEA's Diversion Control Division. The DEA has taken back 14 million pounds of medicines during the 11 years that the program has been in place.

During the April 2021 event, agencies nationwide collected nearly 840,000 pounds of unused prescription drugs.

"The best law enforcement is about prevention," Milgram said. "We're out here saying, rather than wait until we have to deal with a tragic event like an overdose or an overdose death, we'd love to have people understand the risks and the harms in their homes. Taking care of it and getting the medicines out makes us all safer."

Along with these twice-a-year prescription drug take-back days, Fairfax County police stations and pharmacies across the county provide permanent drug disposal drop boxes where residents can safely dispose of their unused or expired medications anytime of the year.

Many of the prescription drugs collected in Fairfax County get incinerated by waste management company Covanta in a combustion chamber is equipped with air emissions control equipment.

Fairfax County kicked off a pilot program to safely dispose of old and unused prescriptions on a year-round basis at the West Springfield police station in 2017. The prescription drop-off pilot program ultimately expanded to other police stations in the county.

SEE ALSO: Where To Drop Off Unused Prescription Drugs In Kingstowne

Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield District), who led the effort for the prescription drop-off pilot program, said the West Springfield District Station typically collects the most unwanted prescription drugs among the county's locations on drug take-back days.

Davis, the county's police chief, emphasized that residents should make it a habit to closely monitor their prescription drugs, especially if there are children in the home.

"If you can think about changing your smoke detector [battery] once a year, you can think about at least once a year going into your medicine cabinet and taking the prescription pills that are dangerous and expired and bringing them to your local police station here in Fairfax County for proper disposal," Davis said Saturday.

LaBelle, the nation's acting drug czar, said residents need to make sure they are paying attention to drugs in homes that can be misused by "unsuspecting young people and adults who might not know what they are getting."

Any leftover and expired prescription drugs should be removed from the house, LaBelle said.

"This is a great environmentally conscious, publicly safe way to do it," she said about the DEA's twice-a-year drug take-back events. "You can come down here and drop off any prescription drugs you have so they don't end up in the wrong hands."

The Environmental Protection Agency also offers guidance on items not accepted during take-back events, including the disposal of sharps and other medical waste. The Food and Drug Administration offers tips on getting rid of liquid medicines that are expired or no longer needed.